your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. with things getting worse at japan's stricken nuclear power plant, the u.s. is arranging charter flights for americans who want to leave japan. i'm charlie d'agata in yoshita, japan, with the story coming up. >> the desperate search for loved ones during japan's worst crisis since world war ii. good morning, it is thursday, march 17, 2011, st. patrick's day. i'm sydnie kohara. >> hi, everybody. i'm frank mallicoat. it's 4:30. a good day to be hoop fans. we have a lot of basketball

here on cbs. >> weather-wise, we have a lot of rain don't we, lawrence. >> all this rain is going to make everything nice and green around the bay area. yeah, happy st. patrick's day, folks. if you are heading out, things are going to be mostly dry today. but we do have a chance of a few showers north of the golden gate bridge. behind that, though, we have a significant storm system. that one is on the way. looks like friday could be a very wet and wild day around the bay area. we'll have more on that coming up. right now, let's get a check of traffic with elizabeth. >> dry for now. it's made for a very calm quiet start to our morning commute. in fact, not a lot going on, on our chp reports. here's live look at the san mateo bridge in the commute direction. no problems between hayward and foster city. bay bridge toll plaza, no metering lights yet. for now, a pretty easy ride into san francisco, and mass transit is all on time. more traffic coming up. back to you. >> it is 4:31 on your thursday.

radiation levels are still too high for workers to get too close to japan's nuclear power plant. this morning, u.n. says traces of radiation will be detectable in southern california by tomorrow. but experts say it will be extremely diluted. and it's very unlikely there will be any harmful effects. charlie d'agata is in japan this morning where they are using aircraft now to try to prevent a meltdown. >> reporter: military helicopters launched an all-out water assault on japan's crippled nuclear power plant in a desperate attempt to buy more time. crews are racing to finish a new power line that could restore crucial water pumps. the best option many experts say to cool dangerously hot reactors and prevent a nuclear meltdown. >> my confident is eroded somewhat because of the continual almost daily degradation in the infrastructure that they have there. >> reporter: the facility has

been plagued by a series of explosions and fires since last week's earthquake and tsunami knocked out power. newly released images show the extent of damage to reactor 4. japan is denying u.s. claims that same reactor has no more water in its spent fuel pools meaning there is nothing to keep the fuel rods from melting down. >> we believe that radiation levels are extremely high, which could possibly impact the ability to take corrective measures. >> reporter: the u.s. is urging all americans to steer clear of the troubled plant. late last night, the state department said it would arrange charter flights to help u.s. citizens leave japan. all americans living within 50 miles of the plant are also being encouraged to evacuate or stay indoors. that's 2.5 times as wide as the danger zone established by the japanese. president obama discussed the precautions the u.s. is taking in a phone call with japan's prime minister last night. he also vowed to do everything

possible to help japan recover from its worst crisis since world war ii. in yoshita, japan, charlie d'agata, cbs 5. are you worried about the japanese radiation coming here? our exclusive eyewitness news poll finds most people in the bay area 54%, in fact, aren't that concerned about it. 45% are either very or somewhat concerned. federal environmental regulators say they are now adding more radiation monitors, though, here in the western united states and pacific territories. search teams still trying to find people missing after friday's earthquake and tsunami in japan. so are individual family members. [ yelling ] >> more than 8,000 people are still missing in japan. hundreds of national and international rescue teams are looking for them. more than 5300 people are known to have been killed.

>> my wife, my son's children and grandchildren, i lost them all. [ crying ] >> survivors in the hardest-hit areas are having trouble getting basic necessities. grocery stores can't restock their shelves. some of them are limiting shoppers to just 10 items. nearly half a million people are staying in schools and other emergency shelters in japan. california senator barbara boxer is worried that the u.s. nuclear regulatory commission isn't doing enough to make sure our nuclear plants are safe. >> i look at what germany is doing. i look at what eu is doing. i look at what switzerland is doing. none of them are panicking at all. they are just being, i think, wise, they're just, okay, let's take another look at these places that have seismic activity. let's shut down temporarily the ones that are pre-1980. i don't hear anything pro- active, and i worry about that. why should i know the worry

about that? please tell me why i shouldn't worry about that when i go to sleep tonight. >> a said, senator, first of all, we are going to be looking very seriously at what happened in japan and if we get information that tells us that there's a safety issue, we'll take action on that immediately. so we are not doing nothing. >> california senators are especially interested in the diablo canyon and san onofre power plants, both of them located near earthquake faults. and there are ways they want victims of the quake and tsunami. log on to our website, cbssf.com and click on "links and numbers" for a list of agencies that are coordinating emergency relief. 4:36. in other news this morning, san jose police are trying to track down a gunman who shot a man outside of a fast-food restaurant. the victim was shot in the head at close range during yesterday's lunch rush at a mcdonald's on bascomb avenue. he was rushed to valley medical center across the street. we have just talked to san jose

police who say the victim remains on life support this morning. police are now trying to determine how that gunman and the victim knew one another. >> shot him, just kept walking down the sidewalk real calm and i seen him tucking the gun back away or whatever he had on him. i couldn't see what it was. >> a surveillance camera at neighboring liberty tax appears to show the gunman you see him running shortly afterwards. city college and two nearby schools were briefly on lockdown. a hearing is set this morning for the upcoming perjury trial against a former san francisco giant, barry bonds. major league baseball's career home run leader is accused of lying to a federal grand jury by saying he never took performance-enhancing drugs. prosecutors are trying to get into evidence some explicit voicemails that bonds left a

former mistress. they say it demonstrates how the drugs affected bonds' behavior. trial begins monday in san francisco. a chunk of highway 1 is sliding into the ocean. this is the big sur area where some 30 feet of the road crumbled down the cliff south of hurricane point yesterday. drivers were forced to leave their cars and walk to safety. there hasn't been a ton of rain in that area recently but all signs point to steady erosion from rain and waves. and it could be months before caltrans fixes that one. >> wow, that is a mess. >> going on a little sightseeing tour and encountering that? >> we have to watch out for that. in the east bay on 680 all of a sudden a big pothole appeared and people got stuck. >> we have already had so much rain, many places above normal and we are catching a little bit of a break in most of the bay area today. you can see the cold front that

went through yesterday brought the rainfall. but we have this little guy here. doesn't look like much but we're actually seeing some lightning strikes along this front. it's a slow mover but could very well clip parts of the north bay so they could see some showers there. temperatures starting out noticeably colder than yesterday. of course, we don't have the cloud cover outside so 30s and 40s around the bay area right now. remember, yesterday we were in the 50s and talking about the showers. temperatures later on today. we are looking at about 59 degrees, partly cloudy skies in san francisco. about 62 though in concord. and about 62 degrees in san jose. should stay dry in those spots i think as you head north of the golden gate bridge when your chance of any rainfall is on the increase. as we look toward the next couple days, we have a good soaker coming our way it looks like for tomorrow. expect some rain heavy at time with the possibility of some isolated thunderstorms low snow levels down 3,000 feet or so. showers will continue into saturday. another storm moves in come sunday. more rain on monday. looks like tuesday and

wednesday of next week, as well. here's elizabeth with traffic. >> so much good news, lawrence. i get if you like the rain it's good news. a lot of clouds and gray skies out there. all right. here's live look at 101 traffic in san jose. the good news, it's dry right now and not a whole lot going on, on the roads. so we're pretty good throughout the south bay. that 101 traffic, headlights are moving towards santa clara. we can show you our live traffic sensors on our maps are picking up top speeds on 101 to morgan hill, the guadalupe parkway nice and quiet. and 280 coming out of downtown san jose you can see a couple of headlights there approaching the 880 interchange. it isn't quite 5:00 yet and i'm already having clicker troubles. milpitas 880/237, everything is fine towards silicon valley. mass transit is on time. back to you. >> thank you. thank you. it is 4:40. financial markets have been very volatile since the earthquake and tsunami. how stocks in japan are doing

today. >> plus, the price of convenience is probably going up, folks. how much more you're going to have to pay to use that atm card. >> ouch. and how man's best friend might actually be good for your waistline.

get ready to pay more for the atm cards. those fees are probably chase is testing out fees up to $5 and other banks will follow suit.

the cost of healthcare for hundreds of thousands of californians will not go up after all. blue shield has cancelled plans to raise rates as much as 59%. the hike was supposed to take effect may 1. it would have been the third increase in recent months. but pressure from customers and state leaders forced blue shield to cancel the hike at least for the rest of the year. state lawmakers making progress on efforts to close the $26.6 billion budget deficit. but they are not quite ready to vote on the whole package. the assembly and state senate approving eight measures yesterday authorizing billions of dollars in cuts to various state programs. some of those measures barely passed with almost no support from republicans. the assembly fell one vote short of approving a divisive bill that would eliminate the redevelopment agencies of 400 local governments. san jose's redevelopment agency settled a 63 million- dollar lawsuit filed against it by santa clara county. as part of the deal, the county will get the old city hall,

which had been vacant since the new city hall opened downtown in 2005. the redevelopment agency will also pay the county 2 $1.5 million by the end of the month -- $21.5 million by the end of the month. the balance will be paid by a payment system that runs through 2018. automakers in japan now plan to remain closed for at least another week because of the earthquake and tsunami. the shutdown is costing toyota $70 million a day. in addition to cars, japan makes car parts which u.s. carmakers rely on for their domestic plants. already, subaru and toyota are curbing production at their u.s. facilities but toyota says it will resume production today on replacement parts for cars already on the road. the nikkei is down 1.4% today but that amounts to a recovery from earlier when the nikkei dropped 3.6% when it

opened up. a newcomer to the bay area grocery scene just opened another store. fresh and easy in concord is one of 13 planned for the bay area. as you can see, there was a line out the door at its opening yesterday. the focus is fresh convenient food with lots of grab and go meals. concord's mayor says the store created about 30 jobs for his city. 4:46. she says she is so scared she can't even sleep at night. >> i feel it on my face. >> coming up, a bay area woman's plea for help weeks after a man slit her throat. >> and in the trial over michael jackson's death, what the defense want to prove with a syringe.

they have gone green at the white house for st. patrick's day. they are getting their celebration going earlier than we are. >> that looks cool, actually. look at that. >> i know downtown san francisco is ready. >> i think chicago they do the entire river is green. this morning, richmond police are asking for help in catching a would-be killer. the wanted man attacked a woman in her home six weeks ago. he is described as 5'8" to 6 feet tall weighing about 200 pounds. the victim was just 90 pounds and couldn't keep him from bursting through her front door and forcing her into the bedroom. >> i look like that and it's [ indiscernible ] >> attempt to suffocate her,

she was trying to say. >> the woman passed out and when she came to the man hit her on the head and then cut her throat. she managed to crawl out of her apartment and call for help. the suspect, though, got away. defense attorneys for michael jackson's former doctor are trying to prove that the king of pop caused his own death. there was a request for fingerprints from the syringe in the pop star's bedroom. lawyers are trying to show that jackson injected himself with propofol. we are looking for the pot o gold sunshine outside. we may have a chance of showers in parts of the bay area today. out the door this morning, patchy fog, chance of a few showers to the north. mostly clear inside the bay. and along the coastline. but watch out, high surf advisory. we are looking at waves moving

in about 13 to 16 feet so stay away from the water's edge through friday. this afternoon mix of sun and clouds chance of showers in the north bay. 50s and 60s on this st. patrick's day. cold front sliding through just yesterday brought with it a nice soaking rain early in the morning and a little sunshine by the afternoon. but this little wave of moisture off the coast doesn't look like a lot but we have had lightning embedded in the storm system, that's sliding very slowly toward the north bay throughout the day. so really it's going to be a mostly dry day outside for the bay area but there is a chance of a few showers north of the golden gate bridge. things could be interesting toward friday. this guy right here dropping down and yeah, it means business. we are going to see good rain out of this one as it moves through maybe 1.5" in the wetter spots in parts of the north bay, even more than that tomorrow. today we'll try and sneak in a

little golden sunshine in between the clouds, 63 los gatos today, 62 milpitas and about 60 degrees in palo alto. east bay dry all day and yup, you might find your little pot o gold out there with temperatures and sunshine and 62 in dublin. isn't that the appropriate place to go today. 62 pleasanton and walnut creek. north bay more clouds and that will keep those temperatures cooler and there is a chance of a few showers in parts of the north bay. so as we look toward the next couple of days, we have more rain on the way, the possibility of some isolated thunderstorms for tomorrow, going to be a wet day around the bay area on friday showers continuing on saturday, another round of rain moving in sunday and monday staying unsettled well into next week. all right. let's get a check of traffic with elizabeth. >> the sun actually came out for a little bit yesterday. did you see that? >> i love it. >> i was shocked. i was kind of trying to enjoy it for the 15, 20 minutes that it was there. all right. here's live look up and down

the nimitz freeway. so far, so good commuting near the coliseum. there is a little bit of lingering roadwork we just learned between fruitvale and fifth avenue embarcadero. sounds like that roadwork is going to be ongoing just for another 15 minutes or so in those northbound lanes of 880. at the bay bridge, also roadwork here as well from the incline out towards the "s" curve. again, should be wrapping up shortly. they are telling us by 5:00 they should have all lanes re- opened. but it sounds like right now they have two lanes blocked off for that roadwork just on the upper deck. and i'm going to try to show you -- i'm having a problem with the clicker. eastbound 4 roadwork between bailey road and somersville until 7:00 this morning various lane wronged and mass transit is on time. remember our radio partners, kcbs 740-am and 106.9-fm. that is your traffic. back to you. >> thank you. the state is threatening to

fine pg&e a million dollars a day for tailing to turn over key safety record -- failing to turn over key safety records by tuesday's deadline in the wake of the bruin explosion. the puc asked the company to supply documents that proved its gas pressure levels are safe. puc's executive director suggests pg&e made a deliberate decision not to comply. he said that they relied far too much on showing historical pressure levels instead of supplying pressure tests or engineering work. americans are expected to live longer than ever before. a new report from the centers for disease control says a baby born in 2009 is expected to live for 78 years and 2 months. more than two million people died in the u.s. in 2009 which is nearly 40,000 fewer deaths than the year before. experts say better medical treatment and public health measures against smoking are having an impact on the number of americans who die every year. acne isn't just a cosmetic problem for teens. adolescents with acne may also

suffer from depression and other psychological disorders according to a new study in the dermatology online journal. researchers say while most teens consider acne to be a minor issue, many others report it has a significant effect on their self-esteem leading to anxiety, depression, even suicidal thoughts. and man's best friend may be just what america needs to get in shape. new research in the journal of physical activity and health says people who own and walk their dogs are 34% more likely to get the recommended amount of exercise each week which is at least 2.5 hours. dog says you got go out, you go!! people who walk their dogs spend an hour each week doing that. >> what if you have a cat? you're in trouble. >> the cat tells you to go outside. [ laughter ] the city of san francisco wants to use cell phonessen to list lifesavers. city leaders say they are developing a smart phone app to alert people trained in cpr of

nearby cardiac arrest emergencies. the hope is to get help to victim while paramedics or firefighters are en route. >> to be able to have technology whereby our good citizens who will volunteer to learn about this information and can rush to the scene prior to our arrival could be the difference between life and death. >> san ramon fire valley district is already using the technology. san francisco is the first major city in the united states to announce the program. it could be in place a little later this year. 4:56. as japan tries to prevent a nuclear meltdown, they are lifting sea water into the air. >> as helicopters fight from high above, the state of the crisis this morning and when traces of radiation are expected to hit the west coast, coming up.

your realtime captioner is

linda marie macdonald. more uncertainty and fear in japan. how the fight to prevent a nuclear meltdown has gone to the air. >> a man shot execution-style at a bay area mcdonald's. we'll hear from a witness and look at the surveillance video, as well. good morning, it is thursday, march 17. happy st. patrick's day, everybody. i'm frank mallicoat. >> i'm sydnie kohara. good morning, everybody. your time coming up on 5:00. weather and traffic in just a moment but first, let's go to the crisis in japan and the latest. the u.s. is sending airplanes to japan for americans who want to get out of the country. the fukushima nuclear complex is in danger of a meltdown. radiation levels are keeping workers away from the plant. now, all six of the plant's reactors have had some serious problems involving fires, explosions. there is structural damage and dangerous temperatures. the u.s. recommends staying 50 miles from the complex, and that is much farther